Recreational marijuana officially on November 2018 ballot – Signatures have been counted and approved. This was announced on Thursday, April 26th.

There is a June 1st Conference regarding the impact of the legalization of recreational marijuana in Macomb County. (flyer included) Dawne Toppa from the Chamber will be attending.

Karen and Shari attended a session April 4th, hosted by LPD, which included speakers from the Colorado DEA, a Lansing attorney and a LARA representative.

Concerns: Is it appropriate for the coalition to move forward with organizing a session in Livonia to speak to sectors of the community so they can go speak to their groups? Suggestion is to go to where these groups are meeting, not have them come to us. And: Do we officially take some kind of public stand on this topic? We can advocate, but we cannot lobby. We cannot tell people how to vote. We are able to provide education. We can come up with a statement that is fact-based, on where we stand. But also provide other information.

The Marijuana Committee is suggesting a “Did You Know” campaign.

The coalition mission is at work through: Vaping 101 – LSOY sponsored two sessions, one at Riley Upper Elementary on April 19 (about 65 people attended as well as an LPD officer and each high school resource officer, two school administrators) and one at Madonna on April 26 (about 40 people attended, many repeats from the Riley presentation WITH their kids, several Madonna students.) And through the Community Addiction Series at St. Mary Mercy Livonia.

Healthy Livonia – St Mary Mercy Livonia is trying to decide what to do next with this initiative. LSOY will be involved in the near future.

LPD hosted an Active Shooter Seminar last week. Karen and Shari attended. They taught what to do and what to look for. We toured the Annex building to find all of the exits and different access points, places to hide and seek shelter.

Treasurer’s Report

Our grant funding was sent from the Authority in February. It was the first payment for our fiscal year…paper work was misplaced so we were asked to re-do all of it. We are down a little from last year, but we also aren’t spending as much. Bob and Karen work together on the budget. Shari is learning how to keep track of expenses, incoming revenue, balancing the checkbook, etc.

The board will be looking to find $10,000 in grants or other money to help us run.

Karen and Shari presented a few small fundraising ideas including: a restaurant fundraiser where you encourage people to go on a certain night and a percentage of the profits go to our organization; there are a couple of credit union contests to be awarded small grants, a possible clothing auction, community giving through store purchases, Amazon Smiles; there are other possibilities as well.

The CDS Foundation awarded LSOY $5,000 from their Wild Game Dinner!

Old Business

Branding update – Karen is going through the old website to find things that need updating. More will be done after the run is over.

The Bylaws are updated from the changes made at last meeting.

Run 2 Save Our Youth – Karen presented our current sponsors, non-profits for vendor tent, donations for raffle, number of participants, where run is advertised currently, what our plans are coming up and what we need to do, medals have all been updated to just say Run 2 Save Our Youth 2018, will have recycling bins, we are organizing volunteers, Diane is taking over the raffle for Jerry this year since he will be on vacation, Mary will handle the water, Caryn is doing registration.

New Business

Mark Wilkes is a retired Dearborn police officer, lives in Livonia and he is part of the K9 Academy. They are trying to branch out and offer their services to people who need a drug or explosive trained dog.

Amended LSOY Mission Statement. Just the last line is proposed to be updated from a focus “on alcohol and other drugs” to a focus on “substance abuse prevention.” Jason and Mark both feel it should stay with alcohol and other drugs because the main focus of our mission is “the health and safety of our young people.” Jason also suggested that the word abuse has been replaced with use or misuse.

Discussion on Kelly Younce as a possible new board member. The motion to add her as a board member was made by Bob Douville. Seconded by Diane Montes. A few other possibilities for new board members were discussed. Mark Snitchler, an attorney was mentioned. Also suggested was representation by a teacher or school administrator.